Jones Day's Katherine Ritchey and client Dawn Andrews receive "Flex Success Award" from the Project for Attorney Retention
March 2010
San Francisco - Jones Day partner Katherine Ritchey and client Dawn Andrews, Managing Attorney, Labor & Employment at Sempra Energy, were among the recipients of the 2010 Project for Attorney Retention (PAR) Flex Success Awards. The awards recognize the crucial role clients play in making workplace flexibility a reality for lawyers in law firms.
Ms. Ritchey, a partner in the Firm's Trial Practice resident in San Francisco, is a commercial litigator with substantial experience in federal and state courts and before the California Public Utilities Commission. She has supervised all phases of litigation, has tried cases, and has argued before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. She also has extensive experience with alternative dispute resolution, including mediation and arbitration. She serves on the Northern District of California's mediator panel.
Ms. Ritchey has worked a reduced hours schedule since joining Jones Day in 2003. Her schedule is based on annual hours and is designed to minimize travel. She was promoted to partner in 2008, continues to handle high-profile cases, and is the primary relationship partner for several large clients.
Jones Day’s One Firm culture, in which every client is a client of the Firm rather than individual lawyers, and matters are staffed to meet a client’s particular needs, results in a collaborative approach that supports lawyers with reduced hours. The Firm has 30 years of experience with lawyers working in a wide range of alternative schedules. The Firm's Diversity web site provides more information about
Jones Day's commitment to work-life balance.
"The Firm’s willingness to provide flexibility on my schedule and still recognize my contributions not only makes it possible for me to remain in large firm practice, but also challenges me to achieve more than I previously thought possible," said Ms. Ritchey.
Dawn Andrews of Sempra, who has known and worked with Ms. Ritchey for more than a decade, respects her legal skill, seeks out opportunities to work with her, and introduces her to colleagues. Her confidence in Ms. Ritchey demonstrates the success of her part-time arrangement.
"Everything that Jones Day represents as a firm is reflected in Katherine's career," said M. Carter DeLorme, a Labor & Employment partner in the Washington Office who serves on the Firm’s Diversity Task Force. "Katherine and Jones Day collaboratively accommodated her desire to strike a balance between work and personal obligations. That collaboration has made her a leader with respect to the Firm’s bottom line and, even more importantly, a leader in making the Firm’s goal of valuing and fostering creative working relationships with talented women a reality."
This is the second year PAR has given the Flex Success Awards, an outgrowth of PAR’s Diversity and Flexibility Connection, in which general counsel and law firm leaders explore the connection between work-life strategies and diversity objectives.
PAR, a national organization dedicated to advancing women lawyers and improving work-life balance for all lawyers, is an initiative of the Center for WorkLife Law at the University of California Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco. More information about PAR can be found at
the PAR web site.
To learn more about the Firm's commitment to diversity, please visit
the Jones Day Diversity web site.